


Everybody's Mother

by Anxiouslykitty



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Female Friendship, Gen, Motherhood, Panic Attacks, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28263561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anxiouslykitty/pseuds/Anxiouslykitty
Summary: Abbey comforts C.J. at the hospital after the shooting.
Relationships: Abbey Bartlet & C. J. Cregg
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	Everybody's Mother

Abbey slipped back out of the waiting room that had been reserved for her and the West Wing staff. She had explained to everyone how Josh’s surgery was going and answered as many questions as she could without having been in the surgical theatre. When she had finished they had all broken off into their own tasks and once they all seemed distracted she made her escape. The Secret Service had blocked off two bathrooms near the waiting room for their staff only. As she entered the bathroom she stopped at the sight of C.J. standing leaning on one of the sinks with her head hung forward. Her knuckles were white with the grip she had on the edge of the sink.

Abbey turned and quietly locked the bathroom door. The Secret Service wouldn’t let anyone in that wasn’t affiliated with the White House, but she had the feeling that C.J. needed a minute without even them. Abbey walked slowly towards C.J. and stopped a few feet from her. C.J. didn’t seem to notice she was there and that concerned Abbey a little.

“C.J.” Abbey said quietly.

C.J. startled and backed away from the sink. Her arms wrapped around her middle and she gripped just as hard as she had been on the sink. Abbey stayed where she was and leveled her eyes with C.J.. 

“How are you doing” Abbey asked.

“I’m fine ma’am” C.J. said shakily.

Abbey took a step towards C.J. and placed a hand gently on C.J.’s arm. C.J. pinched her eyes closed quickly to avoid Abbey’s eyes. Abbey slowly rubbed her hand up and down C.J.’s arm.

“Claudia Jean please don’t lie to me” Abbey said in a mock stern tone.

C.J. began to shake as she gripped tighter to herself. Abbey could see that C.J. was struggling with a shock response to the shooting and she understood. The doctor part of her brain was running through the list of signs of shock. C.J. was pale and clammy, she was shaking, and based on what she looked like when Abbey walked in she was probably anxious. 

“Let’s sit down for a minute,” Abbey suggested.

Gripping C.J.’s arm she steered her to the wall and pulled C.J. down to the ground slowly. It had been a long time since she found herself sitting on a public restroom floor. For some reason she would do anything for Jed’s staff, especially C.J.. Sitting down Abbey could see that C.J. was taking in quick shallow breaths. If she wasn’t careful she was going to have another medical emergency on her hands.

“You need to slow your breathing down or you’ll pass out” Abbey explained. “Try to copy my breathing.”

Abbey pulled C.J.’s arm away from her body and placed it on her own lap. With each breath Abbey traced her hand up the inside of C.J.’s arm and down again. Breath in, trail her fingers up C.J.’s arm; breath out, trail her fingers down C.J.’s arm. Slowly C.J. began to catch on to what Abbey was doing and tried to sync her breathing to Abbey’s. It took a couple of minutes and a few setbacks, but C.J.’s breathing began to regulate and color came back to her face.

They sat in silence for a while longer. Abbey continued to stroke C.J.’s arm and took comfort in the way C.J. slowly began to relax. C.J.’s other arm released the tight grip she had on her waist and rested loosely in her lap. C.J. brushed her hair out of her face and leaned her head back against the wall. Abbey tried to relax next to her and focus on C.J..

“Ma’am” C.J. began.

“I think tonight you should call me Abbey,” Abbey stated. “After everything I think it’s okay if we drop the formality.”

“Abbey, you’re crying” C.J. said quietly.

Abbey reached up with her free hand and brushed tears off her cheeks. She had been so focused on C.J. that she hadn’t noticed she had been crying. She wasn’t surprised though. Her emotions had been resting just below the surface all night and she had been pushing them down in order to take care of everyone else around her. She didn’t realize that she had been so distracted by taking care of C.J. that she had failed to keep her emotions locked down.

“You can cry too,” Abbey replied, trying to maintain her maternal calm.

“I don’t have anything to cry about,” C.J. explained. “I didn’t get shot.”

“You got shot at C.J.” Abbey pushed. “You’re allowed to be upset about that.”

“It’s not the same,” C.J. scoffed.

“My husband was shot,” Abbey said calmly. “I wasn’t shot at and I’m upset.”

“He’s going to be okay,” C.J. comforted. There was a long pause before C.J. talked again. “Is Josh going to die” she whispered.

“I don’t know C.J., but I hope not” Abbey whispered back.

C.J. brought her free hand over and grabbed Abbey’s free hand. She gripped it tightly and Abbey gripped it back. Abbey leaned her head against C.J.’s shoulder and closed her eyes. It felt good to be able to relax for a minute. Ever since the agent had told her that there had been a shooting she hadn’t taken one second to think about what was happening. Her whole focus had been on having the right responses and maintaining a calm demeanor for everyone else. Now she was tired and wanted to be able to break down and feel everything about what had happened today. She knew though that once she walked out of the bathroom she would have to piece herself back together and be the proverbial mother to the whole West Wing staff.

After what must have been twenty minutes the knock at the door brought both C.J. and Abbey back to reality. Abbey pulled her hands away from C.J. and used both to wipe her face free of tears. 

“Ma’am is everything alright in there” one of the agents asked through the door.

“We’re fine,” Abbey replied back loud enough that her voice carried through the door.

C.J. stood and straightened her clothes before reaching her hands down for Abbey. Abbey couldn’t help but roll her eyes at C.J.’s offer, but she still grabbed her hands and let C.J. help her from the ground. Abbey straightened her jacket before going to the mirror to see how much you could tell she had been crying.

Luckily she hadn’t had enough makeup on that it was affected by her crying. There was a little puffiness around her eyes, but nothing that someone would notice. She was a little sniffly, but she hoped nobody would take notice of that. Looking at C.J. Abbey would have never known she had just had a borderline panic attack on the floor of a bathroom if she hadn’t been here. In fact she wouldn’t have guessed that she had been in the middle of a shooting hours before if she didn’t know for certain she had. Abbey was impressed with how C.J. was able to keep herself looking put together. She knew though that C.J. was not okay inside and Abbey wished she could take that away for her.

“Thank you for sitting with me,” C.J. said quietly.

“You’re family C.J.” Abbey replied.

Abbey took a deep breath and walked to the door. She unlocked it and opened it prepared to step back into her role as mother and wife. This was a special group of people and she knew they were going to need her through the rest of this recovery. There would be time for her to break down for real after everyone else was better.


End file.
